Racing Snow

Collegeville Connecticut Bears, from left: Grumpy, CT Blogger, Token2 and Captain.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to Collegeville, Penn., December 11, 2016.

By: Chris Loynd, a.k.a. CT Blogger

Season's first snow was forecast to fall this Sunday. We were all watching the "futurecast" closely Saturday night. Fortunately flakes were not predicted until late in the day. On Saturday night the weather prognosticators were suggesting a 7 p.m. snow start; Sunday morning they moved it up to 6. That was a weather window with which we could work.

However, early Sunday morning Token2 was looking at radar showing a snow swath over Philadelphia, closeby our destination, and wondering if he should ride. Dude! You're the one with the adventure touring motorcycle. The one who rode to the Arctic Circle.

Weathermen also promised us the first truly bearish Polar Bear ride of the season, forecasting temperatures in the low twenties in the morning and not much above freezing the whole day.

I broke out my Freeze-out onesie for the first time this season. I should have put on the hippo hands too. My Warm and Safe suit cranked more than enough heat for my body, right down to my toes. I never turned it up more than halfway. But the gloves struggled. Even at full heat my fingers were too cold. Hands fared better on the ride home. It's amazing what 10 extra degrees can do.

Gloves are tough. Make them too thick and they're no good for the motorcycle controls. They also need to be waterproof. Leather is preferred for protection, but is thick. Someone needs to design a glove with a thin, windproof and waterproof layer. I'd also like a longer gauntlet. My Warm and Safe gloves just barely cover my jacket sleeves. It is quickly annoying when you have even a tiny air leak up your sleeve at 20 degrees and 65 miles per hour. Some Polar Bear riders wrap the gap with duct tape.

In defense of Warm and Safe, my gloves are an older model. Their new "Ultimate Touring Gloves" look to have deeper gauntlets and double heating wires in the thumb. Maybe next season? My wife tries to understand, but my motorcycle gear collection baffles her. How many pairs of gloves does one man need?

Whether it was weather or whatever, we were down to the Connecticut Polar Bear core Sunday: Captain and Grumpy met me at the Dunkin' Donuts in Stratford, our weekly starting point. Captain told me about Token2's radar watching; they'd spoken earlier Sunday morning. "He said he may or may not be at the bus stop," Captain said.

Turned out Token2 strapped them on and was waiting for us.

I had the lead. Captain was sweep. Grumpy and Token2 tucked inside. We had a lot of ground to cover and a short weather window. With a small group of experienced riders, I turned up the wick. Grumpy was on me like glue. Captain was reading my mind, clearing lanes before I signaled. It was delightful.

Our destination was Appalachian Brewing Company in Collegeville, Penn., just north of Philadelphia. It is agonizingly close to 400 miles round trip. But we get only five points for the 380 mile ride. Not that we should complain. Most of our New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania Polar Bear brethren earn far fewer points on these rides. I've always said the Grand Tour is really not meant for us coming from Connecticut as we do. They graciously accept us all the same.

Starting out at 8:00 a.m., we figured to be in Collegeville well before the 11:30 sign-in. Last year an 8 a.m. start put us there at 8:20. With our tight group, a quick turnpike rest stop pee break and a bit of spirited riding, we hit town at 11:10 a.m.

Token2 was right. Light Pennsylvania flurries swirled around us as we searched for a spot of lunch.

Appalachian Brewing has notoriously slow service. So we hit a Friendly's a few miles off of the turnpike. We figured to polish off our repast and then ride into town to sign in and earn our points.

Friendly's lived up to its name and then some. Our waiter was friendly and accommodated us with a six seat table even though we were only four. Spare table top and chairs were piled with helmets, jackets and gear.

Captain had breakfast; Grumpy, Token2 and I had lunch. Food was tasty and fast. I went way off my diet with the fried clam strips, one of my all time favorites. Token2 and I upgraded to waffle fries. Yum! Everybody in the restaurant was friendly. Several folks struck up conversations with us. Four guys on motorcycles in winter were novel enough. Four guys from Connecticut doubly so. The nice lady in the booth next to us handed us a couple of $5 off coupons she had clipped from some circular somewhere. And our waiter cleverly split our ticket so we could take advantage of both. (Maybe that's supposed to be a secret? If someone from corporate is monitoring, rest assured we would have sat at two adjoining but not touching tables to get the deal!)

We were done in less than an hour, even took the group photo in the Friendly's parking lot. At Appalachian Brewing we didn't even take off our helmets, just strolled in, signed in, and were feet-up in five minutes.

Gas and go just before the Pennsylvania Turnpike on-ramp and we were hustling for home. We even skipped coffee in our stop at the top. Traffic was light, even across the Tappan Zee Bridge. As always, the worst congestion was in Connecticut. We rubber-banded a bit on the Merritt.

Even so, my ST was in the garage by 4:00 p.m.

I was sitting on the couch recovering, after exploding out of my multilayer riding gear and into comfortable jeans and sweatshirt, when my phone rang. It was Captain. "I'm driving behind a salt spreader," he said. He was in his car headed to Sue's place. "It's snowing!" The time was 5:20 p.m.

Grumpy got a new cell phone with wide-angle, multi-pixel camera and was showing me how it worked.

Polar Bear Grand Tour photographer Bernie Walsh. He took a group photo of us but it didn't make the page.

Bob photo of the week, next to Flight A Leader John.

Captain signs in with Flight B Leaders Jim and Joan.

Token2 signs in.

Grumpy signs in.

Quick turn stop at the top.

Outside my house at 5:20, that's snow!

Front of my house and a bit of holiday cheer!

Snow Way!

Kingston Polar Bears drove in their car this Sunday, from left: Polar Bear Grand Pooh Bah, Princess, Captain.

Motorcycles Polar Bear Blog, DRIVE to Hickory BBQ House in Kingston, NY, April 3, 2016.

By: Chris Loynd

Our last ride we beat the snow by hours. This Sunday most of us chickened-out. The timing of the storm looked dicey. Our destination was north and west. And when Token2, who rode his bike to Alaska and back, says he doesn't want to ride in the high winds, I'm ready to call no joy.

Captain and Princess drove to protect their perfect attendance. When I saw Joanna's Facebook photo, I was very glad I stayed home.

We had a pretty mild winter this year. But spring, spring has been harsh!

Gourmet Run

Lago CT Polar Bears, from left: Fonz, newbie Ed, Mac, Token2, Captain, Grumpy, Princess, Bob and down front Pogy.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, ride to Lago, North Brunswick Township, NJ, January 17, 2016.

Editor's Note: Well my horrible head cold cleared enough to ride this Sunday, but a whale of a work duty seized first priority. At The Maritime Aquarium we have a life-size, inflatable, walk-in whale exhibit on loan from NOAA.

By: John Howard, a.k.a. Token2

Eight Bears inclusive of a first time cub (Ed, welcome) made the ride south to North Brunswick on a seasonably cold but gray day. The group opined that the return journey seemed colder, though the temperature gauge reported 38°F northbound making a lie of our impressions. That bested the low 30’s on the way south. Pogy who is known (but widely disrespected) for his worldly knowledge put it down to increasing moisture in the air. I believe he checked that by removing his woolly bobble hat for a brief moment in order to gain the benefit of more skin exposure. Fortunately the forecasted snow flurries/showers did not appear until we were all safely back in CT.

Capt. K took the lead with Mac in the rear. It was a joy to ride in staggered but well held formation, at least until the Meadowlands were reached. At that point I made a quick exit into the Lombardi services to attend to an emerging problem from a partially detached windshield spoiler. Being 7^th in line I waved to Mac to keep going, which he and they did. After attending to the issue the only way south is to join the eastern spur; I did a check swing into the Edison services to make sure the group were not waiting and continued on to Lago.

Capt reported the good start in the formation was lost as the NJ Turnpike straightened out, demanding less of the riders' attention to detail.

Arriving at Lago I was astonished to find that I was the first CT Bear on the lot. Huh? Perhaps they had waited on I95 on the section I had not traveled? Nah…Capt. was leading; pirate rules in effect (turns out he did not know I had dropped out). Just as I was checking my phone for messages  Capt. and gang appear from the opposite direction to the normal route. Still we were all on premises by 11 am, so Captain’s detour through North Brunswick, East Brunswick, Milltown (but fortunately not New Brunswick, eh) was but a trifle inconvenience. As is often the case it is an ‘ill wind that blows nobody any good’ and Pogy announced he arrived with 100.7 miles on the clock, 4 points! Woooo hooooo.

Lago sounds so much spiffier than the previous name of Sir John’s that the restaurant dropped a few years back. This year the evolution continued with a posh buffet replacing the a la carte menu that included a number customarily priced hot sandwiches. But, uh hummm..as we are from Connecticut we are deserving of a high society lunch once in a while. More so now we have omnipresent royalty in our ranks. We were treated to an omelet station, carving station with rib of beef, chilled shrimp and many other gourmet delights that reminded me of the feast we enjoy at Long Valley. Of course the price was set to match, high enough to stimulate a sharp intake of breath from some. Even as we yelped, Fonz sprang into action and dropped a money off coupon into the mix so our final tally was more palatable. Way to go Polar Rican!

After lunch we assembled in the parking lot where Grumpy began the process of setting up for the group shot. Clearly a little rust has accumulated during his absence over the first half of the season, it took several Mulligan’s before we saw evidence of the flash. Bob H., who joined the group shot  got into the spirit of things by heckling that he wondered if the group shot would be completed before we were at next week’s destination. It was all too much for Grumpy who blew a fuse. No, don’t get me wrong, it was the 15A one that fed his head and tail lights which he fixed at Montvale services. It is great to have you back Grumpy!

Fonz ponied up for the refreshments at the top, though as a result of a miscalculation we ended up one hot chocolate short;  Pogy voluntarily missed out. So Fonzie, if your MSF schedule this coming season has you working every rainy weekend you will know why. Anyway, the rest of us enjoyed the break.

Princess, we are all looking forward to a critics report on Jim’s performance in ‘…on the way to the Forum’  illustrated with many pictures including a worldwide exclusive a ‘up the toga’ shot. Don’t be bashful, those Romans were naughty fellows!

On that I had better end……

An addendum from Joanna Wojtowicz, a.k.a. HRH Princess:

We had a great ride today. Token2 didn't take any pictures but asked me to forward them to you. I posted all pictures in my Polar Bear rides album on FB. You can take any pictures you want for the blog.

Token2 joined me at the bus stop, at the Hutch and I-278. We had a short but meaningful conversation about current behavior of the stock market before Grumpy arrived ahead of the pack, seemed to have some odd scarf issues...we all just watched and tapped our fingers on the throttles as he was wrapping himself with it. Finally Fonz yelled "TODAY!" to which  Grumpy, as usually, showed a gloved finger.

Captain lead the way with couple of scenic town detours. We forgive him, everyone still remembers Montgomery. There hasn't been one ride, when someone didn't mention that.

Polar Bears present today: Captain, Fonz, new rider Ed (who rode actually pretty well, but of course, Pogy had to find something to point out and rightfully so!), Grumpy (as always grumpy), H.R.H. Princess, Pogy, Token2 and Mac.

Today's was the 13th ride of the Polar Bears Grand Tour season, and that takes us over to the number of remaining rides going down. Only 12 to go!!! Points are racking up!

After our hot chocolate stop at The Top, I went to see James in a toga!!! He was just great, as always. We have a very talented Bear in our group. It was the most hilarious play I've ever seen. "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" is the longest play's title I've ever seen too! I cried laughing! Literally!!!

I showed up without a ticket and got front row seat!!!! Lol... People there respect Royalty!  One kid, looking at my helmet,  said to me: "You're so rad!" I still have to Google that or check with Urban dictionary!!! LOL...

By the time the play was over, my bike was covered with an inch of snow... I knew I could handle it. Roads were wet, snow wasn't sticking. It was a good experience riding in that kind of weather, however, I wish not to do that again unless absolutely necessary! Lol

Made it home safe and took all possible precautions. I remembered, when you told me about patches of ice forming under the overpasses. I thank you for that, it stuck in my mind.  Did couple of U-turns myself, but all good and safe at the end of the day.

Today, I totally feel like a Polar Bear!